科技前沿:谷歌泄露蘋果祕密
Google spills the beans on Apple
"Contrary to published reports," Apple (AAPL) told the FCC back in August in response to a government inquiry about why it rejected Google's (GOOG) famous voice management app. "Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it.”
What Google had to say about that was unknown because unlike Apple, which made public its response, Google asked that key portions of its letter to the FCC be kept confidential to protect "sensitive commercial conversations" between the two companies.
Now Google has spilled the beans. In a blog post Friday, Google attorney Richard Whitt announced that rather than fight several Freedom of Information Act requests, the company asked the FCC on Thursday to release the unredacted version of its letter.
You can read the full letter on the FCC's website, but the thrust of the previously undisclosed passages is that Apple's top marketing executive personally told Google that its app had been rejected. The key section is this one:
"The primary points of contact between the two companies were Alan Eustace, Google Senior Vice President of Engineer & Research, and Phil Schiller, Apple Senior President of Worldwide Product Marketing. On July 7, Mr. Eustace and Mr. Schiller spoke over the phone. It was during this call that Mr. Schiller informed Mr. Eustace that Apple was rejecting the Google Voice application for the reasons described in 2(a)."
[The reason offered in 2(a): "because Apple believed the application duplicated the core dialing functionality of the iPhone."]
Not only does Google's version of events flatly contradict Apple's, but its letter provides names and dates that could presumably be supported by phone records.
For what it's worth, Google's letter also supports the version promulgated by TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, who, citing sources at Google, had pronounced Apple's public response "untrue," "misleading," and "a total lie."
In response to a request for comment about the specific passage quoted above, Apple spokesperson Steve Dowling replied instead: "We do not agree with all of the statements made by Google in its letter. Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application. We continue to discuss it with Google."
Dowling declined to specify which statements the company does or or doesn't agree with.
今年八月，美國政府調查蘋果（Apple）爲何拒絕谷歌（Google）著名的語音管理應用軟件，作爲迴應，蘋果向聯邦通信委員會（FCC）表示：“與公佈的報道相反的是，蘋果並未拒絕谷歌語音（Google Voice）這項應用，而是繼續在對其進行研究。”
谷歌對此事的看法當時不詳，因爲與蘋果公開回應不同的是，谷歌要求對其致聯邦通信委員會信件的關鍵部分保密，以保護兩家公司間“敏感的商業對話”。
現在谷歌泄露了祕密。在上週五的博文中，谷歌律師理查德•惠特（Richard Whitt）宣佈，谷歌沒有反對數項《信息自由法案》（Freedom of Information Act）要求，而是於上週四請求聯邦通信委員會公佈其信件的未編輯版。
你可在聯邦通信委員會的網站上閱讀完整的信件，但此前未公開段落的要點是，蘋果頂級營銷高管親自告知谷歌其應用已被拒絕。關鍵部分如下：
“兩家公司間主要的聯絡人是谷歌工程與研究（Engineer & Research）資深副總裁艾倫•尤斯塔斯（Alan Eustace）與蘋果全球產品營銷資深副總裁菲爾•席勒（Phil Schiller）。7月7日，尤斯塔斯先生曾與席勒先生通話。在電話中，席勒先生告知尤斯塔斯先生蘋果因2(a)中描述的原因拒絕谷歌語音應用。”
[2(a)中提供的原因如下：“因爲蘋果認爲該應用複製了iPhone核心的撥號功能。”]
谷歌對事件的描述與蘋果的完全相反，不僅如此，其信中還給出了人名和時間，估計谷歌還有電話記錄支持其說法。
順便提一句，谷歌的信件也支持了TechCrunch的邁克爾•阿林頓（Michael Arrington）說法，阿林頓援引谷歌內部知情人士提供的信息，稱蘋果的公開回應“失實”、“使人誤解”以及“完全是謊言”。
蘋果發言人史蒂夫•道林（Steve Dowling）被請求對上面引用的具體段落置評，然而道林對此的迴應卻是：“我們不同意谷歌在其信件中所做的全部陳述。蘋果沒有拒絕谷歌語音應用。我們繼續與谷歌討論該應用。”
道林拒絕具體說明蘋果同意或不同意谷歌的哪些陳述。
